Review: Judgment by Denise Hall

Judgment–the ultimate disciplinary establishment, a forbidding mountain fortress where unfortunate young women are taken and trained to become the perfect submissives for a world-wide market. Abandoned to the whims of Judgment’s ruthless masters, Callie McGuire descends into the depths of this prison, discovering a new capacity for sensuality as she becomes Mischief, the personal plaything of the Mountain Lord.

I was looking for dark captive books and saw this book from Maryse’s Book Blog as one of her recommended reads. I grabbed it, of course. Even if the author Denise Hall was new to me, I caved because of its blurb that sounds like a mixture of haunting and gripping.

Callie was abducted and was brought to a secluded mountain fortress where a disciplinary establishment lies. In this establishment, lots of unwilling women are ‘disciplined’ and turned into a plaything. Taken aback, Callie resisted the harsh treatment and rebelled but to no avail. Masters that rule the place bent her resistance and made her a woman who’s completely at their mercy. One of these masters was named Tane who slowly changed her perception about herself and the way she lives as a submissive.

If I would be asked if I enjoyed this book, well, I certainly did in most parts and I hate myself for it. lol. There were actually a lot of reasons to dislike this book. The cruel treatment of the masters to the women is one of them. But I liked how the dark, horrible situations that could happen in reality were portrayed here. The way it depicts the reality of a kidnapped and abused woman who eventually learns to accept and even love the situation– (Stockholm syndrome)— and even for the very odd reason that we don’t understand, develops feelings for her captor, was so evident here.

This is one of the reasons why I admire captive books because they don’t just take me out of my reading comfort zone but they present realism that some people don’t dare to understand or delve into. This book, as a whole, was a good read. The only downside I found was the back and forth past and present narration because honestly, I was more interested with the past narration and I didn’t really care about Callie’s interaction with the detective who interviewed her.

This was totally dark, I could even say it has no romance involved. So if you are faint-hearted and a minor, I suggest you stay away from this book. But if you love captive books with a blend of BDSM, then go ahead and read it.